Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $3.47 Million Holdings in Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Free Report) by 29.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,379 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 23,043 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Aramark were worth $3,465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aramark by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,497,580 shares of the company's stock valued at $951,315,000 after purchasing an additional 178,147 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Aramark by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,268,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $606,986,000 after buying an additional 554,239 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Aramark by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,593,734 shares of the company's stock worth $507,182,000 after buying an additional 5,263,817 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI grew its position in shares of Aramark by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 11,454,740 shares of the company's stock worth $427,376,000 after acquiring an additional 860,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aramark by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,511,152 shares of the company's stock valued at $317,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940,214 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Aramark from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Aramark in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Aramark in a research report on Monday, February 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Aramark from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.33.

Aramark Price Performance

ARMK stock traded up $0.06 on Tuesday, hitting $39.58. 2,316,720 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,003,710. The stock has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16 and a beta of 1.28. Aramark has a 1-year low of $29.92 and a 1-year high of $42.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.98 and a 200-day moving average of $37.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Aramark (NYSE:ARMK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. Aramark had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 1.94%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Aramark will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aramark Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a $0.105 dividend. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Aramark's dividend payout ratio is 32.31%.

Aramark Company Profile

Aramark provides food and facilities services to education, healthcare, business and industry, sports, leisure, and corrections clients in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Food and Support Services United States, and Food and Support Services International. The company offers food-related managed services, including dining, catering, food service management, and convenience-oriented retail services; non-clinical food and food-related support services, such as patient food and nutrition, retail food, environmental services, and procurement services; and plant operations and maintenance, custodial/housekeeping, energy management, grounds keeping, and capital project management services.